Skateboarder Marc Johnson dies at age 49: Thrasher Magazine

SAN JOSE, Calif. - Marc Johnson, a professional skateboarder who is credited with putting San Jose on the map, has died, according to a friend's post in Thrasher Magazine. He was 49.

Skateboarder genius

What they're saying:

Fellow pro skateboarder Louie Barletta wrote a tribute on Tuesday to Johnson, who, just a month ago, was "sober, healthy and full of life," according to the magazine's Instagram post. 

Barletta wrote that when he dropped Johnson off at the airport, he never imagined that his longtime friend would be gone such a short time later. 

In fact, when Johnson visited Barletta in San Jose last month, he gave him a three-page wish list of his hopes and dreams. 

"Marc was a genius and a tortured soul," Barletta wrote, adding that Johnson was just a "poor kid" from Winston-Salem, North Carolina, who grew up in a trailer at the end of a dirt road, who ended up touching so many lives through his skateboarding, creating brands and "single-handedly putting San Jose on the map." 

A cause of death was not immediately disclosed.

Other online skater communities also got wind of the news. 

Jarez Perez posted in Skaters Over 30, that Johnson was his "all-time favorite pro skater." 

Chuck Knode wrote that he has a lot of favorite skateboarders, "but when but when people would ask who mine was, I’d always say Marc. He was so talented and yet so human too. He always made me feel like anything was possible if you were able to imagine it. I know that’s cliché AF but something about how he conveyed that was truly magic." 

Boardworld, a skateboard shop in Sydney, Australia, posted a video titled "RIP to the greatest Marc Johnson 1977-2026," showing him doing tricks on railings and stairs. 

The San Francisco Chronicle wrote that Johnson was part of the San Jose scene that produced the Tilt Mode Army, a loose crew of skateboarders and filmmakers whose videos showcased Northern California. 

Johnson’s national image reached its height in 2007, when Thrasher named him Skater of the Year. That same year, the Chronicle reported that he took part in Lakai’s "Fully Flared," one of the defining video sections of its era.